Vehicle-dumping apparatus



L. J. McMI LLIN. vsmcus DUMPING APPA' RATUS.

QPPLICATION vFILED JUNE Patented Oct. 24,1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

L. J. McMILLlN.

PARATUS.

VEHICLE DUMPING AP APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3, I92].

Patented Oct. 24, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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A 7' TOE/YE K hoisting cables Patented Get. 24, 1922.

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I LOUIS J; lvlichllilLLlN, 0 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

To all whom it may Be it known that VEHICLE-DUMPING APPARATUS.

concern:

I, LOUIS J. MCMILLIN,

a citizen of the Umted States, residing at Indianapolis, in the countyof Marion and State of Indiana,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle-DumpingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain means for unloading or dumpinggrainfrom wagons and trucks-into grain receiving and storing pits in andabout grain elevators,

and has for its principal object the utilization and arrangement ofcertain mechanism whereby a single power unit and dumping apparatus issufficient to dump the contents of all wagons and trucks, transportinggrain to such elevators, into any one of a large number of gramreceiving pits which are usually arranged beneath the main floor of thegrain elevator A further object building. I of the invention consists inthe provision of suitable vehicle hoisting cables having suficient slackto form bights which can be moved fromone grain receiving pit toanother, a particular grade thereby enabling grain of and characterto bedischarged into the desired receiving pit, and

which also enables the discharge ends of the vehicles to be maintainedthe proper effective dumping position relatively to the mouths of thepits irrespective of the difference in length of the vehicles in whichthe grain is transported, by moving the bights in the the mouths of eachcase may dictate.

nearer or farther away from the pits, as the conditions in There areother objects which will appear from a perusal of the followingdescription and claims, which are accomplished by means of one of mypreferred embodiments which I have illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view through a portion of theunloading floor'of a grain elevator building, showing the mouth of agrain pit and the relative location of my invention and a vehicle inwhich grain is transported. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the plane2-2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation, on a considerably enlargedscale, of one of the sheave-wheels whlch provides both abearing pointand ing cables.

guide for the hoist- Fig. 4E isan edge view, on an enlarged scale, ofone of the vehicle wheel- -gripping devices. Fig. 5

is afront elevaranged on an intermediate shaft 18 jouring pits.Examining the above figures it Wlll be observed that a pair of parallelcables Application filediune 3, 1921. Serial No. 4 34505.

tion of the construction shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is an arbitrarilyarranged diagrammatic plan view of a grain elevator, showing thelocation of the various grain receiving pits, together with the relativelocation of my dumping apparatus thereto.

Referring to the drawings, the dumping of the contents of a vehicle,which may be accomplished at any one of the several grain receiving pitsby means of a single hoisting apparatus arranged at the most convenientpoint as may be determined by the outlay of the pits, comprises arevoluble hoisting drum 10, which is usually arranged in suitablebearings immediately below the joists of the second floor of thebuilding. Drum 10 is provided at one end with a sprocket wheel 11 and isrotated through the medium "of a sprocket chain 12 leading to a sprocketwheel 13 located on a shaft 14., the latter being 'journalled in a frame15 usually attached. to the side of the building. ghaft i4: is alsoprovided with a pinion 16 which meshes with a corresponding pinion 17arnalled in frame 15. Shaft let may be provided with a hand-crank 19 ifdesired for the man ual. operation of drum 10, but I prefer to employ amechanical power unit, usus5 ally an electric motor, not shown, which isconnected to a main driving shaft 20 arranged beneath the dumping floor21 of the building. The main driving shaft 20 is also provided with asprocket wheel 22 and by means of a sprocket chain 23 leading to asprocket wheel on intermediate shaft 18 drum l0 may be mechanicallydriven Shaft 20 is further provided with a suitable shilting--cl.utchmechanism 25 and shifting lever 26 so that the movable parts of thehoisting mechanism including the drum 10 may be thrown into and out ofoperation.

Figure '1 illustrates a grain carrying vehicle in properdumping positionrelatively to a door opening 30 leading into a grain receiving pit whichis located beneath floor 21, and F ig. 6 illustrates an arbitraryarranged plan of a plurality of grain receivextend away from drum 10immediately below the lower edges of the joists of the second floor ofthe building, and these cables extend the entire length of the areacontaining all of the openings 30 leading into the series of grainreceiving pits, irrespective as to whether the pits extend instraight-away line away from drum 1O 01' are arranged otherwise, theirarrangement depending upon the structural outlay of the building. Theends of the hoisting cables 35 extend somewhat beyond the further-mostlocated pit where their ends are suitably anchored on a cross-beam 36attached to the bullding, and the length of cables 35 is sufliciently inexcess ofthe distance between the drum 10 and cross-beam 3G to providethe necessary slack in forming the bights or loops inlthe cables so .asto permit of an attachment being formedibetweenthelatter and frontwheels of the vehicles, as clearly shown-in Fig. 1. Cables 35aremaintained in a substantially horizontal plane between drum 10 andcross-beam 36 by means of a series of pulleys or sheave-wheels 38 whichare arranged in bearing-frames 39 (Fig. 3), 01" which one end of eachfran1e39 is securely bolted .to the underside of the second.- floorjoist 4U, Eachbearing-frame 39 is bent to form a hook whichis arrangedso as to provide a space intervening the body andhooked-end for thereception of one of the sheave-wheels 38, the free hookshapedendolithebearing-irame 39 being of sufficient length to form an outersupport for the-router trunnion end of sheavewheel 33, this constructionpermitting cables 85 to be removedor replaced from one or more of thesheave-wheels as circumstances may require. Hence, if it is desired todump aload of grain in the first pit from the dumpin apparatus,designated as A. bring all of the slack in .the cables to form thenecessary bights at this point, and if the next vehicle to be dumped isstationed at pit L the slack in the cables, after having released thecables from the vehicle at pit A, is moved by applying a pulling stresswith a suitablehook in the hands of an operator at pit L to bring theslack in the cables to that point. After proper attachment made betweenthe'cables 35 and the vehicle atpit L, the same hoisting apparatusemployed for dumping a vehicle at pit A is capable of dumping thevehicle at pitli," or at any other pit in the series in which it isdesired to discharge grain. The flexibility of the dumpng apparatus isrendered possible, first, in providing the neces- .sary slack in thecables 35 to form the bights; second, by themethod of either sustainingand when necessary freeing the ca bles 35 at any point intermediatetheir length for the formation of the bights, and,

third, by means of thesheave-wheels I am able to provide a large numberof different points oti'ulcrum for the cables in hoisting vehicles atdifferent positions from the single hoisting apparatus.

To providean easy and safe means for contact will beabove. a

in, Fig. 1, it is necessary to installed and front vehicle wheels of avehicle, and as shown in Figs. 4: and 5 these gripping devices eachcomprise .a frame 50 which extends vertically approximately from the hubof the wheel to and somewhat beyond the periphery of the latter. Theupper end of frame is bent outwardly and downwardly into a 11001151which stands parallel with the. face of frame .150 and is arranged toprovide a channel 52 intervening the frame and hook which is adaptedtoreceive a channeled sheave-wheel 153 which is. mounted on an axle 54journalled in the frameand hook. One of: the cables 35 is passed underthe sheave-wheel 53 and ;its accidental displacement is prevented bymeans of a resilient leaf spring, 55 which extends across the channel:52, but which can. be easilypressed back for the removal of cable 35when desired. The lower end ,ol frame 50 is bifurcated into pair oil?diverging arms 50 which terminate at thein free ends into the curvedhooks 50" adapted. to-receive the peripheral :lt'ace otthe, tire oi thewheel, and hooks 50*,by means oftheadiverging character of arms 50, arearranged soas to contact the periphery of the wheel asuificient distanceapart so that the points of point where a plane passing verticallythronghthe axis oi' the wheel intersects thelower portion of the tire,which,construction permits that portion of theperiphery of the wheelbetween the hooks 50" to extend slightly below the points oi cont-act ofsaidhooks and which acts as a brace for temporarily holding the wheel inthe frame while the latter is being clamped fast. The wheel is clampedat its top by means of a hook 57 which may be adjusted vertically in,t'rame 50 by. means of a slot;58 and abolt 59, whereby the effectiveclamping of wheels oi different diameters is rendered possible.

By meansoi'x the ioregoingdescribed arrangement of parts it will beobserved that I have produced a simple and economically operatedapparatus by which vehicles for transporting grain tohelevators can bedumpedin grain receivingpits.

Having thus fully vention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. A hoisting apparatus comprising a revoluble drumya hauling cableattached to the drum and having its free end secured at described mysaid inany one of a series of means arranged between the drum and theremote point of attachment of the cable, said guide-means adapted toguide the cable in a determined path and to change the position of thebight relatively to the drum,

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Indianapolis,Indiana, this 28th day of May, A. D. one thousand nine hundred andtwenty-one.

LOUIS J. MOMILLIN. [1 s]

